Thanks Jeff, a collection is more fun when it can be shared and discussed so we all can learn more. The gun was a 'buy it now' type deal or someone else would get it and I had no time time to research it before buying so I was not sure if I made a good decision or not. It took well over a week to ship and I did not see David's rifle until looking in his book a second time, I just looked in other sections before - seeing that made me more relaxed about the purchase!
Seeing the forearm on David's, it looks like the checkering pattern shown on the No5(2) engraved gun but without the feature in the center. From the Marlin catalog all the checkering is consistent with Marlin designs. I had collected Marlin pump 22's before getting into the Savage's after I had an almost complete collection of them, so I have several old Marlin catalogs for reference from that time and I got to know a lot of Marlin collectors, which is how I tracked down a barrel so fast. The Marlin collectors also say the checkering looks like Marlin.
Rick got some date ranges on the serial numbers - Stock was made around 4/1896 and rifle in the 12/1896 to 2/1897 range based on other examples. The gun is in the mid 4500's and the stock in the low 6200's. Not being familiar with these I am surprised to see the higher serial number being earlier.
